Betrayal
by AubreenaGreen
Summary: "Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the creaky, wooden door, and stepped inside. Immediately, Sirius felt a shiver run through his body. Something was horribly wrong." Sirius discovers James and Lily on Halloween at Godric's Hollow.


Sirius flashed another devilish grin at Jasmine Venegas, this year's Halloween hookup, as they walked along the pavement to James and Lily's flat. She was his third date this week, which Lily described as "scandalous", but frankly, he couldn't care less. Sure, she was a bit of a ditz, but when-

Sirius was cut off mid-thought by a blood-curdling scream - a woman's.

Normally, he would brush something like that off; it was Halloween, for Merlin's sake! This scream, however, sent chills down his spine. He could feel in his gut that something wasn't right.

Sirius quickly ushered Jasmine forward as they turned the corner, but what he saw made him freeze in his tracks.

It was the Dark Mark.

It was the Dark Mark above... above James and Lily's house.

"No," he whispered to himself as he slowly began making his way to the building, abandoning his date. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Sirius picked up his pace until he was full-on sprinting, half of him wanting to keep going, and the other half wanting to turn and flee in fear of what he might discover inside.

Finally, he reached the door. The normally friendly-looking building loomed over him with an unfamiliar and intimidating aura, but Sirius knew he had to keep going. He had to see for himself the horrors that rested inside. His hand instinctively reached for his wand, his fingers trembling as he clenched the wood in his shaking hand. He was forcing himself to be ready in case whatever had summoned the Dark Mark was still within the house.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the creaky, wooden door, and stepped inside. Immediately, Sirius felt a shiver run through his body.

Something was horribly wrong.

"Hello?" he called out cautiously, waiting for Lily's usual greeting and James' ridiculing, but it never came. "James? Lily?"

Silence.

On the off-chance that they had fallen asleep on the couch as they had done a few months ago, Sirius peeked into the sitting room directly to his left, but it was completely empty and neat, spare a few loose quills and such.

As he hesitantly maneuvered through the room towards the stairs, he noticed something at the top of the steps. His guard was up as he turned to face whatever it was when he saw... No, it couldn't be...

James Potter was lying on the top of the staircase, back against the floor, completely motionless.

"No," Sirius moaned in a ragged half-whisper. "No, Merlin. No. No!" Sirius let out a sound that was a half scream, half cry, as he ran up the short distance to his friend. Kneeling beside him, Sirius looked into James' blank eyes. His hand instinctively went to his friend's neck, seeking the strong heartbeat he desperately wanted to be there.

"Prongs," Sirius shook his body with his hands. "Damnit, James!" Grabbing the still-warm body, Sirius pulled the form of his cherished friend into a hug as a choking fit of sobs and screams escaped his throat. He clung to the warmth of his friend as if his life depended on it. His hands clenched the rumpled fabric of the wizard's clothes, and in that moment, it didn't matter that a Death Eater could still be in the house; the only thing on his mind was the crushing weight of yet another failure.

"I'm sorry," he choked out as he clutched his friend's waist, shaking and burying his head into James' shoulder.

After five minutes or so, Sirius was reduced to a coughing fit as he choked on his sobs. He finally decided he would have to leave James and see if Lily and Harry had escaped in time. Slowly, he stumbled to his feet, wobbling a bit as he did so. Murmuring a quick goodbye to James and promising to return, he made his way to Harry's room.

As soon as he looked through the entrance, he saw Harry in his crib with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, crying and sniffling. Letting his gaze drop lower, he saw that a giant hole had been blown through the floor, rubble scattered everywhere in the kitchen below. At the very edge of the hole... was Lily Potter.

Sirius let out another anguished cry, dropping to his knees and burying his face in his hands.

"Sirius."

He recognized the voice of Albus Dumbledore, but did not look up.

"Sirius," Dumbledore called again, and Sirius very slowly lifted his head up, turning to look at his old headmaster. "What have you done?"

Sirius began to blubber trying to explain what had happened as Dumbledore made his way around the hole to Harry. "It... it wasn't me, I swear! I just... I just saw the Dark Mark and... It was Peter!"

"Peter?" Albus asked as he picked up baby Harry.

Sirius' eyes dropped down to Harry. "Oh, Dumbledore, let me take him! Please don't take him from me!"

"I'm afraid I do not understand," Dumbledore started, looking uncertain. "You were the Potters' secret-keeper. How could Peter have-"

"Because... because I-" he started before he noticed something: Peter was standing right outside of the house, looking absolutely terrified, and when he noticed Sirius looking at him, he began to run.

Betrayal. Peter had betrayed James and Lily, and him. He couldn't get away for this. In no time, Sirius had apparated outside, and had begun to chase after him.

"Peter!" he shouted, and the pudgy young man turned around, eyes widening in shock, before running even faster. "Stupefy!" he shouted as they ran. "Stupefy!"

After a minute of running, Peter stopped and faced him, fetching his wand from his pocket. Looking around, Sirius realized they were in a park with at least ten muggle bystanders. He could do no magic here.

"Peter," he said, panting. "How could you do this?"

"He threatened to kill me, Sirius," Peter whispered, trembling.

" _Then you should have died_!" he shouted, shaking in anger. "James and Lily are _dead_! And it's all _your fault_!"

"And yet," Peter drawled, a sick and twisted grin plastered on his face, "you are going to take all the blame for it, aren't you?"

"What-" Sirius started, but was cut off as Peter whispered a foreign spell under his breath, and all of the surrounding muggles dropped to the ground, dead.

"Goodbye, Sirius," he said before taking his wand and slicing off his finger, waving at his former friend.

"Peter, no-" Sirius cried, but the pudgy boy had already made his transformation into a rat and was scampering away.

Sirius let out another cry as he fell to the ground, surrounded by the lifeless bodies of innocent men, women, and children who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And just like that, his life had crumbled into dust in less than thirty minutes. Little did he know, it was about to get even worse.

"Get up," a strong voice commanded, and a rough hand was placed on his shoulder, yanking him up from the grass.

Sirius turned to the man, and was faced with none other than Barty Crouch, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, with a few other aurors behind him, wands raised.

"What's going on-" he started, but was cut off.

"You are under arrest for the murder of twelve muggles and one Mister Peter Pettigrew," Crouch said, and Sirius stared at him in disbelief.

"There must be some kind of mistake-" Sirius protested.

"You are sentenced to life in Azkaban," he continued.

"Life?" Sirius shrieked. "Don't I get some sort of trial? Dumbledore can-"

Crouch turned to face him, looking straight into his eyes with cold fury. "No," he stated. "Robards, take him."

One of the aurors, who Sirius assumed to be Robards, grabbed his arm, and before he could protest further, he felt the familiar pull of apparition.

Suddenly, they were standing outside two giant gate doors, and Sirius felt all of the color drain from his face. A person whom Sirius did not recognize opened the gates, seized him by the arm, and dragged him inside.

"Please," he begged. "You have to believe me. I'm innocent!"

The guard did not say a word, but instead stopped at a small cell and handed Sirius a small pile of folded clothes.

Defeated and still in shock over the death of his close friends, he went inside and changed briskly, ignoring the degrading feeling. Witnessing the death of people he cared for had muted him, and he couldn't summon the energy to protest.

When he was finished, he handed the guard his old clothing and wand. Another guard arrived, carrying a camera. He walked up to Sirius, took his wand, and promptly snapped it. The guard handed Sirius a plate with two symbols he did not recognize on it, and the numbers "390" engraved in the middle. Sirius took it mindlessly, too shocked and numb to do anything else, and stood against the wall as the guard snapped pictures.

Finally, he was taken to an empty cell, presumably his own. All that was inside was a small mattress which did not look comfortable at all.

There were no friends; there was no one at all. That was one of the tortures of Azkaban.

Sirius sat on the pathetic mattress in a hunched position, and screamed as loud as he possibly could, raging against the world for the injustice he had been a victim too. Wasn't anyone going to come for him, give him a trial, a fair chance? No. They believed he was a Death Eater, and hadn't even given him the chance to prove his innocence. They didn't care about him.

As Sirius stared into the unforgiving stone wall, he felt the realisation that everyone he loved was gone. Everyone he had trusted had left him to his fate. He had fought with Remus and accused him of such horrible things, when he had in fact chosen Peter to be the secret-keeper instead of him.

Instead of letting his tried and true friend take the burden upon himself, Sirius had chosen Peter on his own. No one would suspect Peter, he had thought. Peter had been perfect. But Peter… Peter had played them all for fools, and Sirius had been the greatest fool of them all.

Sirius clenched his fist. Regulus had tried to warn him, but he hadn't listened. He had been too intent on hating his family and his Slytherin brother to hear the truth behind his younger brother's plea.

 _"Trust no one," Regulus begged him, his eyes boring him him. "Brother, please. If I ever meant anything to you growing up, then please just listen to me! Trust no one. Protect your friends on your own. Trust no one else to do your duty."_

 _"Duty?" Sirius spat back at his Death Eater brother. "What would you know about duty with that ugly brand upon your arm?"_

 _Regulus has stiffened, his eyes growing cold. "I know more about duty than ever you did."_

Sirius heard a sobbing sound, but eventually realised it was his own. Regulus's dead body had shown up a few days afterwards, washed up on the shore. Whatever Regulus had known, he had taken to his grave.

There was no one left for him. No family remained that he had not repudiated in his rebellion. Remus has been so disgusted with him by the fact that he had taken Dumbledore's mission to infiltrate the werewolves.

Oh, Remus. Remus would have no idea what happened to James and Lily. Remus would blame him, and he would be right to do so. It was all his fault. His horrible choices had killed his best friends, leaving him with only his thoughts for company in the cold, merciless dark.

Sirius wailed, his voice coming out in a sob, hardly noticing the drop in temperature or that his breath was coming in cold wisps.

Cold, dark fingers were reaching for him in the gloom, but Sirius did not notice them. All he saw was the nothing he had created by his own hand and lack of responsibility.

He was on his own. He was all by himself.

And there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

As the Dementor closed in on its new meal, it savoured the bitter despair and utter desolation growing in the human's cracked and bleeding heart. The Dark creature approached hungrily, sucking the remnants of joy and happiness that were left to the wizard until he withdrew into the prison of his own isolated, friendless mind.

He was trapped.

 **Hope you enjoyed that! Leave a review and tell me what you think!**

 **Written for the Quidditch League**

 **Position: Keeper  
Prompt: Alone  
Forbidden word: Alone**

 **Written for the Kill That Character (Or Not) challenge  
** **Prompts: Hunched, ridicule, devilish, quill, scandalous, betrayal, and fetch**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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